


so long as you come home at the end of the day

by polyside



Series: drift compatible as fuck [2]
Category: Polygon/McElroy Vlogs & Podcasts RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, F/M, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Mostly Gen, Not Beta Read, POV Second Person, References to Depression, Sad with a Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-03 20:58:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21185894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/polyside/pseuds/polyside
Summary: Everyone had high hopes for you when your brothers had an easy compatibility, and you didn’t let anyone down, that’s for sure. You feel more comfortable with Justin but work better with Travis, and while you’ve never talked about it you’d be willing to bet they have their preferences too. You try not to speculate. You’ve lived at the Academy since before you could convey your thoughts in ordered English so while the impulse to act a mentor to new recruits regardless of their age is probably incredibly vain, you’ve always indulged it.





	so long as you come home at the end of the day

**Author's Note:**

> This was not supposed to be the next work in this series. There was never supposed to be this much world building in this series at all, ever, at any point, and certainly not with the characters who somehow have been promoted to main thanks to this. Classic Griffin, though, completely derailed this 'verse and now it's this epic world instead of more smaller-scope Pat/Brian. Thanks, Griffin. I'd like to say we'll return to Pat/Brian in the next installment but really who knows at this point.
> 
> Part two of me continuing not to care about Pacific Rim canon in the slightest so please don't let that fusion tag stop you. As always, if you're in the tags or know anyone in the tags, click back.

You’ve been at the Academy since before you could speak full sentences. You’re the definition of a legacy, a rare creature in this world to have a father and two older brothers who are all fighting the fight, a huge family all here, all contributing to the effort. Siblings are prized as pilots all over the world - after all, no matter where you go, siblings have the most reliably compatible relationships. Everyone had high hopes for you when your brothers had an easy compatibility, and you didn’t let anyone down, that’s for sure. You feel more comfortable with Justin but work better with Travis, and while you’ve never talked about it you’d be willing to bet they have their preferences too. You try not to speculate. You’ve lived at the Academy since before you could convey your thoughts in ordered English so while the impulse to act a mentor to new recruits regardless of their age is probably incredibly vain, you’ve always indulged it.

The first time, these three kids show up together, two boys and a girl. Simone is loud, brash, and easily frustrated, but incredibly charming to make up for it. Clayton seems to be her polar opposite and you wonder if they’d make a match, his silence to her rambling, but she overwhelms him instead. Clayton is quietly good at everything he touches; Simone works hard and comes to excel at the things that matter to her. It’s the third, Patrick, who you find the most interesting, though. You think if you were to try to run with anyone other than your brothers it would be Patrick. He’s mostly quiet, like Clayton, but his words are sharp and it takes a lot for you to earn a real smile from Pat, not like Clayton who smiles casually for everyone, not like Simone who grins wickedly and laughs loudly like the whole world needs to hear or it won’t count. In the end, you spend some time running with both Clayton and Patrick (Pat turns out to be just a couple months your junior and you never let him forget it) before Clayton finds his partner and then it’s just you and Patrick, not perfect, not close as brothers, but close enough to get the job done, for now.

You have Patrick as a partner in the drift for barely a year when he meets Allegra, and you’re overjoyed. They’re perfect for each other, both quick-witted and sharp-tongued but they’re soft towards each other in a way Pat never was for you, and just like you have your brothers suddenly Pat has a sister. You still think of him as your lost little brother, still want keep an eye out, but you don’t have to. Pat and Allegra are the new hotness, the most talented pair to train together in years, and even your dad is impressed by their skill and compatibility. You instead take to Allegra’s now-left-out friend, shadow-eyed Thomas, and though you know he could be great you’re not compatible with him at all and so when he leaves there’s nothing you or Patrick or Allegra can say to stop him. The loss of one of those you personally trained hurts. It’s nothing compared to what’s coming.

It’s Travis and Justin on the mission where things start going wrong for your friends - if it had been you, could you have protected them? You’ll never know but you’re there at home with your dad when the return sirens start ringing even though nobody left from the Academy that day. You’re the one who runs down the bay to see a half-torn-apart Jaeger limp in like a Jaeger shouldn’t, see it fall to the ground like a human and not like a machine. You’re the one who screams when Clayton rolls out, eyes closed, skin so white it’s blue, and doesn’t get up. You’re the one who sits by his side, though not alone - Simone’s there too, most of the time, they say her scream when she heard was louder than ever but now she’s silent as the grave. Days and nights pass and your brothers come home but there’s no sign of Pat or Legs and they don’t know if Clayton will ever wake up, they think he destroyed his mind bringing the Jaeger back and you don’t, you can’t go anywhere.

He wakes up a few weeks before Pat and Legs come home and it takes him those few weeks just to start speaking again but you’re so relieved, your brothers are relieved, your whole family is to see you moving around again, you know. You visit Clayton every day just to talk to him, even if he doesn’t talk back, it’s worth it to see your friend smiling again, life behind his eyes. When Pat and Legs get home, they’re weird. She doesn’t come around as much and Pat tells you over a bottle one night that she’s terrified of losing anyone but especially Pat. Allegra is scared and wants to train with some other people, to make sure she won’t be as wrecked as Clayton if the worst should happen. Pat asks you if you’ll run with him again, and it’s the only good thing to come out of this mess.

Time flies. There’s always a mission. Allegra gets over it and she and Pat take back off from the Academy and you’re back to going out with one brother or the other and then coming back home to look after the kids. Clayton lives here, now. He can still sync with you but not for long enough, his incredible feat having taken its toll on his brain, on his life, so he helps you look after the recruits, learning to teach from the best (not you, your father, of course, though you hope some day to be as good at teaching recruits as he is). Eventually there’s another trio who arrive together, a boy and a sister and a best friend, and you never say anything to Clayton about them but they’re so bright and bold and skilled that watching them makes your heart ache for Clayton’s loss all the more. The three drift together (unlike your last trio) but it’s the siblings who are the perfect fit, Patrick and Allegra all over again but soft instead of sharp, bright instead of dark. Simone loves them and takes them under her wing immediately, and you have to leave them to her because you’re going on a long mission with Juice and Pat and Legs.

By the time you get back, the siblings are gone and your world has changed, because Pat’s has. It was a nightmare and now Allegra, beautiful, brave Allegra is gone and it’s you, Pat, Simone, and Clayton again like when you were kids, trying to pick up the pieces of each other. Nothing’s wrong with Pat, physically, but a few months pass and you try to drift together and it’s so bad it shocks you. There’s a wall of fog at the edge of Pat’s mind, not like Clayton’s nearly impassable chasm but like a maze that you almost get lost in, Juice needs to pull you out and you haven’t been that scared since Clayton’s body rolled into your feet. Your brothers talk and then they pull you away from Pat, don’t let you train with him anymore, keep you with them. They’re scared of what’s in Pat’s mind, too. They want you to stay away but you watch anyway, send the new commander to befriend him, ask fearless Simone to try what you can’t (she doesn’t get lost in the noise but can’t do it anyway, not enough to count).

More girls come, after that, some of them older, wanting to meet and train with lady commander Tara Long or the tragic rockstar pilot Patrick Gill. You’re hopeful when you watch Jenna, seeing a softness that could match any of your three friends in different ways, and you’re happy she’s perfect for Simone but your heart still hurts for Clayton and Pat. Clayton’s gotten better, but Pat sinks into a depression nothing and no one can drag him out of, and, that’s it, the famous pilot and amazing instructor who used to be your best friend is just going through the motions. You can’t watch anymore and so, you stop. Life goes on, as it does. You meet a girl, fall in love, get married. Rachel isn’t a pilot, she’s a psych, but she fits right in with your brothers and their wives, your little family and if only you could have all your friends back the way things were before, you think that would be enough.

You find out from Simone that one of the siblings is coming back, that the girl was lost in battle but the boy survived, that Tara wants to see if they can find him a new partner. You’re tired of broken boys in your home but Simone agrees with Tara, and there’s enough of something like hope in her eyes that you throw up your hands and say yes, sure, bring another one in. Simone says you won’t regret it so you try not to, but the boy arrives with so much pain in his eyes and you can’t save him any more than you can save Pat. Simone has a plan, though, of course she does, and throws Brian at Pat. Slowly, steadily, surely, the light comes back into both their eyes, together.

Brian doesn’t have anything in his mind except a deep understanding of loss. He wasn’t linked with Laura when she died, you learn, is why - you hear from Simone who heard from Pat who was told by Brian that she’d torn herself out when she saw what was coming, sacrificed herself to keep him safe. So Brian has a perfectly safe mind but a deep pain and when you see Brian and Clayton training together your breath catches at the thought that maybe Clayton can finally start again. It’s not to be, of course, and his smile isn’t disappointed at all, just fond when Clayton reminds you that, no, he’s done, and also pretty sure Brian is meant for another. You pester him for days but Clayton refuses to tell you what he saw in Brian’s mind. As he should, really, but you’ve never been one to let things go.

Simone finally tells you, one day, whispers when she passes you in the hall that she thinks Brian’s for Pat and you stop, frozen in your tracks, grab her arm (like she knew you would) and demand she explain. She keeps walking but you follow until you’re in an overlook you didn’t know she knew about and you see, below you, what she was talking about. You see beside Brian the laughing man you grew up with (Brian touches Pat! Pat doesn’t flinch away!) and you understand, and just like that you’re in on the plan. You were apparently the missing third link Simone and Clayton needed to execute, the one who can actually change the training schedule, but you won’t, not without asking Travis first, not when he’ll read it in your mind later. He says yes, and whether it’s for you or Patrick or Brian you don’t ask, so you make Pat’s class an odd number one day early next week, and nod to Simone in the hall the next day, holding up four fingers. She nods back.

The day comes and Clayton doesn’t hold back his smirk when you pass by in the mess, bouncing on your heels with anticipation, you know you are. Even Pat tilts his head to the side at you but is quickly re-engaged by Brian on his left and - holy shit, Pat’s blushing, Simone’s totally right, as long as Brian reciprocates but he has to, you recognize the longing in those bright eyes, this is going to work. Maybe you’ll never get your best friend back the way he was once he has Brian, but that doesn’t matter to you as much as you thought, not now that you’re seeing him look at Brian with more life in his eyes than you’ve seen in years.

It works. Pat pairs himself with Brian like Clayton knew he would and Brian pushes him like Simone knew he would. You watch from another overlook as their eyes go soft and sharp together and you can see on Pat’s face the moment he hits drift, you know that look so well and you turn and hug Simone and Clayton together, you’re all crying but you run downstairs with them hot on your heels, you need to be there when they come out so you can say something to Pat, congratulate him or hug him or something so he knows how happy you are that he’s alive again. Everyone’s there, though, by the time you arrive, Justin and Travis and Tara too, Jenna sliding up beside Simone, Rachel grinning by her side, and you realize in that moment that they’re all your family, really.

You have so much you want to say to him but when Pat and Brian finally come back, when the dust settles and Pat’s eyes clear, there’s nothing you can say, all you can do is reach out and put your hand on his shoulder. He doesn’t flinch, but he does look at you, almost confused, like he forgot how much you love him. Maybe he did. Pat never cried much but he’s crying now and so you step aside, let Brian take your place, let Pat bring the boy in for a kiss that has Simone cheering once again.

Brian and Pat aren’t tied at the hip, not like Pat was with Legs. Maybe it’s his own loss but Brian never seems scared to lose Pat like she was, and it takes some convincing to get your brothers to let you try again but the day you and Pat and Justin and Travis go out for a simple run together you thank every star that Brian exists. He’s a good pilot but a better trainer, develops a reputation for finding paths through even the most drift-damaged minds (though Clayton still insists he’s done no matter how long he and Brian can stay linked). It’s enough, though. Your broken family is whole, Henry and his cousins are the true legacy, and one day in the mess you notice your boy latched on to a lonely dark-haired beauty of his own and you think, yeah, this is enough.

**Author's Note:**

> my polygon side tumblr is @polyside if you want to follow me geeking out about how constantly in love with these nerds i am


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